Almost a year of silence on this blog. Many of you noticed that it disappeared for a while… A lot has happened in the past year and I wasn’t sure what the future of this blog was, so I was hesitant to invest any time into it. However, I think this blog is good for me to chronicle just how far we’ve come in regards to this house.

I am going to try to update with some of the projects we’ve done in the past year. They have mostly been decor-related and not anything major.

Over the past year, we have tossed around the idea of selling this house and buying another that needed less work. We did a lot of number crunching and options investigating. We have tossed around a lot of ideas, talked about our dreams and goals, and did some soul searching. We’ve been uncertain for a long time. We contacted real estate agents and talked to our neighbors to get a feel for the current market. However, it came down to the fact that we need major foundation work and the market just hasn’t risen enough to support that. So, we have decided to stay put for the time being.

When we were talking about selling, I made a list of all the little things we could do to help make the house more attractive. I was surprised at how many little and inexpensive items there were… it made me wonder why I hadn’t bothered to do them yet. I have really struggled with my feelings towards this house, and I think a lot of these little details would go a long way in helping me feel more positive.

So, I decided to resurrect this blog. I am hoping to continue to chronicle our adventures, but I also want the reminder to be positive. I’ve been updating the before & after photos pages (I’m about half done at this point), and I always forget what this house originally looked like, and how much better it is now. I think I just focus on the imperfections. Going forward, I hope to:

• Not focus too much on the future. It’s fun to brainstorm, but I think I will reserve that for private off-line. If we’re actively planning a project, I’ll share that, but if it’s just hopeful “someday” dreams… I’m going to try to avoid doing too much of that.
• Not talk in depth about the problems of this house. For one, it gets me down. I want to explain issues that we run into, but I don’t want post after post listing all the reasons why this house is a fixer-upper.
• Be positive and use this blog to motivate me to take care of the small things. I might resurrect the Project Tuesday or whatever I called it. Or maybe I’ll find my own pace.

And as always, I’m a busy mom of two little children. If weeks (or months!) go by without a post, I’m not going to feel guilty. Sometimes I’m not actively doing things to our house – I’m just trying to maintain the current state!